Quinnipiac Beats Sacred Heart, 81-74

FAIRFIELD — Shane Gibson was torching Quinnipiac Thursday night. He dunked. He scored in transition. He curled off screens for mid-range jumpers. He made three-pointers, one from about 30 feet. He made it all look easy, made four different defenders look virtually helpless at times.

Gibson, Sacred Heart's senior guard, was not only taking hold of this pivotal game at the Pitt Center, he was putting together one of the more impressive performances of the Northeast Conference season. For 31 minutes, he was a one-man show.

But the longer the game went and the deeper Moore went into his rotation, Quinnipiac began generating its own clutch plays, eventually slowing Gibson and wresting away a wild 81-74 victory at the Pitt Center.

Guarded primarily by Shaq Shannon down the stretch, Gibson was held scoreless for the final 8:58 while missing his final five shots. By rebounding and defending with increasing intensity, and running a fluid offense that has taken months to develop, the Bobcats closed out their seventh victory in eight games.

And, voila, Quinnipiac (13-13, 9-5), which has won five in a row, is .500 for the first time since late November and alone in fourth-place in the NEC. With four games remaining, the Bobcats are even within striking distance of first-place Robert Morris (19-9, 11-4).

"Within seasons, losing begets losing and winning begets winning," Moore said. "We're on the good side of it right now."

Ike Azotam had 14 points and six rebounds for Quinnipiac, which had a 40-34 edge on the glass and 23 second-chance points. Ousmane Drame had 13 points and eight rebounds. Shannon had 11 points and James Ford had nine (in eight second-half minutes). The Bobcats made 25 of 29 free throws; Sacred Heart was 5 of 8.

"How many and-1's did they get?" Sacred Heart coach Dave Bike said. "They outplayed us in the second half."

Gibson finished with a season-high 36 points on 13 of 27 shooting. Louis Montes added 17 for Sacred Heart (9-16, 7-7), which has lost five of six.

"They turned it up and they had good defense," said Gibson, who entered as the nation's 11th-leading scorer at 20.5 points a game. "My leg was hurting [he banged his left knee in the second half] and maybe that affected me."

With Quinnipiac leading 73-70, Gibson drove the lane and made a basket that was called off. He was called for a charge after contact with Jamee Jackson with 2:29 left.

"It's crazy that a ref can be influenced by the momentum of the game and his call can change the whole outcome of the game," Gibson said. "That's clearly a block. I was on the way down. The ball was in the hoop by the time I hit the dude. Definitely a turning point, but we could have done things prior to that and after that to win the game."

Quinnipiac was in the midst of a 10-2 run to ice it. The key was cooling off Gibson, who had 20 points in the first half.

"I just tried to stay with him," Shannon said. "I thought I was faster."

Said Moore: "I thought our size and depth might have swayed the game at the very end."

When these teams met Jan. 12 in Hamden, Sacred Heart won 80-74 and led by 20.

"We were so devastated, we were almost embarrassed," Moore said. "So that was our lowest point. This is our highest point."